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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Thanks,
Melissa, for offering me this opportunity to talk about my latest release, Saved by the Salsa, just out yesterday.
This blog article was a different experience for me, examining a particular
scene in the book in-depth. I hope your readers think I picked a particularly
compelling scene and will be enticed to read more.

Publisher:
The Wild Rose Press

Date
Published: August 8, 2014

Genre:
Contemporary Romance

Word
Count: 82,300

Junior
architect Lacey Rogers welcomes the opportunity to work with Jack Dalton, the
firm’s golden boy, that is, until her hormones can’t resist his charm and
spectacular looks. How can she keep her mind on their design project when her
most potent designs are on him?

Jack
Dalton has always worked alone. Now he’s got a partner. Is he losing his touch?
Is that why he hasn’t been named principal yet? To make matters worse, he can’t
take his eyes off the petite piece of fluff. If he can’t find some way to cool
his jets, he won’t be able to keep his hands off her either.

But
on the dance floor, their mutual resistance melts as their bodies meet in the
vibes of the Salsa. Can the dance keep them collaborating after the music
ends?

“Huh?
Can’t hear you.” What was up? Had she stumbled across one of those ground
creatures after all?

“Lose
the notepad and start backing up the hill as nonchalantly and quickly as you
can.”

“But—”

“Do
as I say, okay? We’re not alone. Hurry!”

Hosted on wikipedia.com

“What
do you mean not a—” Over his shoulder, he saw what she meant. A scruffy-looking
bull stood no more than thirty feet away, pawing the ground. The animal didn’t
look the least bit happy to have company. Jack tried to swallow and nearly
choked, his heart hammered so furiously. Where had the beast come from? He must
have been hidden behind the trees on the other side of the hill.

Warned
not to, he resisted a powerful urge to stare down the animal. But he couldn’t
get his feet to budge, no matter how much he willed them to. “I-I-I can’t
move,” he hissed. How much longer before the bull decided to rush? Couldn’t be
long. “Get out of here, Lacey. I’ll distract him for you.”

“I
won’t leave you!”

“Do
it!”

“But—”

“Now!”

She
backed up the hill a few steps at a time. He waited until she reached the crest
and disappeared down the way they’d come. Then he began his own retreat. Bulls
weren’t typically part of the knowledge base of townies like him. Did you stare
down the beast or pretend it didn’t exist?

The
debate came to an abrupt halt when the bull snorted, stopped his pawing and
raised his enormous head. When he saw Jack, he snorted again.

Jack
continued backpedaling up the grassy slope, keeping the bull in sight without
looking him directly in the eye. As Jack arrived at the top of the hill, he
chanced a glimpse of the other side to check Lacey’s position. She’d reached
the bottom and was making her way to the fence.

Time
to make his escape. Could he outrun a bull? No time like the present to find
out. Adrenaline he didn’t know he possessed shot through him, propelling him
down the slope. He sprinted like he was back on the high school track team,
stumbling a few times, but staying erect. He didn’t dare look back until he’d
almost caught up with Lacey.

His
flight wasn’t in vain. The bull was cutting the distance between them with each
leap. “Go faster, Lacey,” he shouted. With the bull in pursuit, whispering was
superfluous.

She
jerked her head around. In doing so, she missed her footing and tripped. She
went flying, landing face down, arms akimbo.

No
time to spare. He caught up with her, swooped down, picked her up and flung her
over his shoulder like a rag doll. Picking up his pace, he made the distance to
the fence in four strides. He hoisted her over and out of danger.

The author explains what's happening in the scene:

Having
been assigned to work as a team to develop a design concept for this new
residential community for baby boomers, my two architects, Lacey Rogers, the
newbie, and Jack Dalton, the firm’s golden boy, who’s not used to working with
a partner and has resented Lacey’s presence from the start, have set out to do
a site inspection after their first trip proved disastrous. The site is still
lush farmland, which is part of the rolling prairie several miles outside Des
Moines. It is early spring. Though their first several days working together
were difficult due to their different work styles and Jack’s unstated concern
that having been set up with a partner, he’s losing his touch, which may be the
reason he hasn’t been named the firm’s principal yet, they’ve reached a sort of
truce by this point. In fact, Jack has included an impromptu picnic lunch,
which they’ve just finished. During their meal, he’s had to keep reminding
himself she’s his work partner and nothing else. He suggests they explore the
property, in particular, a copse of trees she noted on their earlier visit.
Their search has taken them up, then down a small hill, where she’s revealed
her ability to witch water. Suddenly, Lacey realizes they’re not alone.

Reese
Witherspoon was always the actress I had in mind as I developed my heroine,
Lacey Rogers. Think the Reese Witherspoon of the film “Sweet Home, Alabama”
where she’s a high profile fashion designer. Though petite, Lacey still is well
endowed. Blonde hair, blue eyes. She also has a bit of sass to her. She’s
developed a great rep for designing single family houses, but this assignment
could be the turning point of her career. She’s not going to be cowed by Jack’s
refusal to treat her as an equal. I saw a lot of this in Reese’s SHA character.

I
decided on Zachary Levi as the actor to play Jack only recently. I have trouble
getting past casting my heroes with anyone other than George Clooney, although
George tends to be the go-to actor for many romance novelists’ inspiration. I
wanted someone who was tall and darkish, but I also wanted someone who
displayed a certain bon vivant, Cary-Grantish wit. My selection of Levi came
from watching talk shows on which he’s appeared. He came across just shy of
irreverent. I wanted that for Jack, because he’s a man floundering who refuses
to let anyone else know. More than anything, he wants his parents’ love and
approval. Self-made millionaires, they always seem to heading off to new
jet-setting adventures, too busy for him. He sees himself as a mere footnote in
their biographies, although, of course, he’s wrong. He’s also somewhat shaken
because, as the firm’s golden boy, he’s expected to be named principal by now
and that title hasn’t materialized.

The author explains
what she really loves about the scene.

I don’t
purposely set out to include physical comedy in my writing. Years of addiction
to “I Love Lucy,” “Laverne and Shirley,” and “The Nanny” simply slip into my
subconscious and I find myself throwing my characters into crazy physical situations.
I prefer witty dialogue and in-depth character exploration, but this stuff just
won’t let up. So I try to use it to forward the story or make some kind of
point. In this case, the relief both characters experience having escaped the
bull causes them to let down their defenses momentarily and admit to their
mutual attraction. Jack is supposedly seeing Lacey’s best friend, although this
is just a ruse to make the best friend’s former boyfriend, Lacey’s brother,
jealous enough to come back to her. Jack knows this, and Lacey knows this, but
Jack doesn’t know Lacey knows although she knows he knows. Still with me? I
needed a way for them to at least temporarily get past Jack’s pretend courtship
of the friend so they’d both feel comfortable giving in to their desire. Their
first love scene follows, although it only goes so far. But don’t blame the
bull. I hope your readers will check out the book to see what interrupts it and
how these two finally do get together.

Author Bio:

Barbara Barrett spent her professional career as a human resources
analyst for Iowa state government, and that training has stayed with her in her
writing of contemporary romance fiction. Now retired, Barbara spends her
winters basking in the Florida sunshine and returns to her home state of Iowa
in the summer to “stay cool.” Married to the man she met her senior year at the
University of Iowa, they have two grown children and seven grandchildren. Saved by the Salsa is her third romance
novel published by The Wild Rose Press and her first in the “Sullivan’s Creek
Series.” Her previous works were And He
Cooks Too and Driven to Matrimony.
She recently signed with TWRP for a fourth book, The Sleepover Clause, first in “The Matchmaking Motor Coach
Series.”